Book Review: ‘Nobody But Us’ by Laure Van Rensburg

This is an intriguing idea for a thriller; a couple leave New York to go to a remote house for some romantic time together. However, the book opens a few days later with the police finding the house covered in blood and ransacked. Clearly, something violent and disturbing has happened within the walls of the modern holiday home…but what? This fills in the missing gaps of that story.

And it is quite a story.

The narrative is told from different perspectives. Firstly, there is Ellie Masterson, the young woman of the couple seeking a snowy getaway with her lover. Her older partner, Steven Harding, is the second voice, while a third unnamed narrator contributes fragments of a story whose significance is revealed as the novel goes on. We see the couple travel together to the house and settle in, enjoying the snowy woods and the ocean behind the house.

There are hints that things aren’t quite right from the start – Steven is getting secret texts, Ellie watches him flirt with a young woman at the service station, Ellie seems strangely on edge…but they’re on a romantic break so what can possibly go wrong? A lot, it turns out.

I can’t go into the details of the plot wthout giving spoilers that would take the impact out of the twists and turns for anyone who hasn’t read this yet. Suffice it to say, I was hooked and wondering where it would go next. Any reservations I had about a whole book with such a tiny cast of characters was assuaged quickly and I settled in for the rollercoaster ride.

One thing must be said: it isn’t an easy read. In the wake of #MeToo and the increased (and timely) focus on gaslighting and domestic violence, this is a horrific tale, although maybe not in the way a reader might initially suspect. The violence is quite graphic and Ellie and Steven are both incredibly unsympathetic – despite the way that their narrated sections attempt to justify their actions. I hoped that this would have a feminist twist but the resolution – while clever, satisfying and well-plotted – didn’t quite deliver that punch for me.

For fans of psychological or domestic thrillers, there is much to get your teeth into here. It will definitely keep you guessing up until the end and is one to look out for in 2022.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

---

If you’d like to pre-order a copy of this book (out in April 2022), please use my affiliate link below. Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo by Fineas Anton on Unsplash